From @nonbinarygaymergirl on Tumblr. This seems to be part of a cooperative writing effort between a lot of authors using the same characters. There's no specific order to them since they're bits of story.
The humans were at third meal when Zork'ak sat on the bench. The nutrient researchers had been experimenting with the human flavors, attempting to add it to the meals. This bowl had a slight ‘savory’ undertone that Zork'ak very much enjoyed.
Wren moved over to allow Zork'ak to sit next to her, which caused a weird constriction around xer straque, xer fluid-pumping organ. Wren smiled at xem, and it happened again. Xe might need to go to the medical wing after meal.
"I don’t feel sorry,“ Adam was saying.
"You sprained my wrist!” Steve was clutching his extremity to his chest.
"You should’ve landed the right way.“
"Oh, shut up,” Carrie grumbled.
As Carrie lifted her utensil to her mouth, Zork'ak caught a glimpse of a long cut running the length of the lower half of her extremity. “How did you hurt yourself, Carrie?”
She looked surprised. “Where?” Zork'ak carefully traced the line with xer talon. Carrie twisted to look at the scabbed cut. “Hmm. Wonder when that happened.”
"The piercing of your skin sends pulses through your nerves, correct?“
"Well, yeah.”
"So you should feel it.“
"Well, I mean. You usually do. I guess I just didn’t notice when it happened this time.”
"Sometimes our body can be more focused on other things or like the pain is so minor we barely notice or remember it,“ Adam said. “I mean we obviously notice big things.”
"I probably cut on something while we were at the collection field.“ Carrie continued eating.
"She also is the kind of person who doesn’t notice a lot.” Adam closed his eye in what Zork'ak had been told is called a ‘wink.’ “I, on the other hand, do notice things like this.” He flipped his extremity over to reveal two blue spots on his arms. Zork'ak did not study human bodily science, just behavior so xe did not know what this medical condition was.
"What disease do you have?“ Zork'ak leaned forward to look at Adams, running a talon over the skin to see if it felt different. Xe had been told that xe could touch the humans without asking permission in these situations.
"Oh, it’s not a disease. It’s called a bruise. It means my blood vessel, the tube that brings the blood to all my organs, was ruptured. It’ll go away after a few days.”
"You rupture delivery vessels that are necessary to keep your organs functioning and it does not affect your body?“
Adam shrugged. "We have multiple blood vessels.”
"Is this an extremely painful occurrence?“ Zork'ak had noticed humans did not seem to mind pain.
"Nah. I mean, you can usually tell if you are going to bruise because it hurts a little when that spot gets hit, but very minor.”
"So you don’t notice when you are cut but when one of your… blood vessels,“ Adam nodded,” blood vessels ruptures but you do notice when you touch an object too hard.“
"Uh, kind of? It just really depends.”
Zork'ak did not understand how some humans would notice these nerve impulses but others did not. Xe turned to look at Wren, who had been listening to the conversation, and noticed a dark purple spot on Wren’s upper extremity.
"What is this?“ Xe pointed at the spot on Wren’s arm.
"Uh,” Wren tried to twist her extremity. “Where?” She was stretching it out, twisting around, finally able to look at the spot on the back side. “Oh, bruise.” She poked it. “Ouch. That hurt.” She proceeded to press it again. And again.
"Wren?“ She touched the spot again and wrinkled her nose. "Why do you continue to press the spot that hurts?”
She looked at xem. “You know, I don’t have an explanation really. I guess it doesn’t hurt that much so it’s enticing to keep pressing it to see if it hurts more each time. I’m not sure.”
"How did you get that bruise?“
"Couldn’t tell you.”
Zork'ak looked back at Adam. “I thought you said you all noticed when you have ruptured your blood vessels, and that one looks more painful.”
"Hers is a dark color because it’s healing, not because it’s more painful. Bruises are nearly the same pain level. Some hurt when you press them,“ he cut his eyes at Wren, "but having them doesn’t hurt really.”
"She does not know how she received hers.“
He looked at her arm, then his. "Like I said, it depends.”
"But.“ Zork'ak was looking at their bruises. "How do you-you don’t notice-I do not understand.” Klyls always noticed any abnormality in their body’s functioning. There was not a time that Zork'ak had not noticed something causing xem pain.
"It’s complicated, I guess. Our species doesn’t have set rules really.“
"I have noticed.” Xe looked at Wren. “It makes your species quite hard to study.”
She laughed. “Good. You can’t know all of our secrets.” She winked at xem then.
Zork'ak found it hard to breathe for a fraction of a cycle. Xe definitely needed to go to the medical wing.
